Expert: Christopher Littrell - 8/5/2008

Question
Our nepenthe is about 3 years old. It is beautiful and dark green but we have
not had any pitchers grow on it.  There were some when we bought but they died
off.  We live in Florida and it gets early morning sun, the rest of the time
indirectly


Answer
Hello Peg,

After three years your Nepenthes should have adapted to your area. What species is it? If you bought it at a general store it is likely one of the easier to grow species like N. alata, N. sanguinea, N. ventrata, or N. ventricosa. If you are unsure of what species it is and have bought it from a fellow grower or from a specialist nursery you might need more specialized care for it as it might be one of the harder to grow species.

In general, most Nepenthes species can be grown as a typical houseplant or patio plant with slight shading from direct sunlight. Nepenthes will lose their pitchers in any number of conditions.

1. Drastic humidity changes.

2. No nitrogen from prey items.

3. Too little light.

Humidity changes are usually adapted to after a few weeks, so by now your plant should be back to normal so long as it has not been moved around from inside to outside all the time.

If the plant has not captured enough prey items in its pitchers it will no longer have enough nitrogen to create specialized traps to catch more prey.

If the plant is receiving too little light it will forego making new pitchers until it has enough light to expend the energy on pitchers.

Of the three I would suggest adding more light until you notice the plant making new pitchers after a few weeks. If need be you can place 12000 lumens of florescent light over the plant. That would be the equivalent of four cool white shop light tubes of the 40 watt 4 foot long variety. Place them about 4-8 inches over the plant and leave them on for 16 hours a day. Nepenthes need quite bright light, just not direct sun for most species.

In addition, you might try to give the plant some foliar water soluble orchid fertilizer by diluting such fertilizer down to about 1/4 to 1/8th strength and lightly spraying or wiping each leaf top and bottom with the fertilizer. Only fertilize like that once every 2-4 weeks and wait for new pitchers. Once the plant has generated a new pitcher you can stop fertilizing it and just make sure it gets an occasional insect every week or two. It will probably catch enough on its own even in your house.

I hope your Nepenthes recovers its pitchers.

Christopher